‘Project Initiative’: Investing in our team

An agency is all about people. People we work with and people we work for. And as co-founders and directors of CookiesHQ, mine and Nic’s role is to guide everyone to be their best and support them in fulfilling their ambitions.

Managing a team in tough times

In the past year, like many businesses across the world, we struggled through the pandemic. The main objective was to keep the business afloat and our family happy and safe. We tried to keep to the same standards of care for everyone around us, but some things had to give: our children spent a lot more time on screens that we’re comfortable with, I worked late at night too often for it to be healthy, and we were so focused on our clients, that I believe we didn’t look after our team well enough.

We organised online team challenges, checked in with everyone regularly and made sure they had the right tools and equipment to work from home. But it still felt like we were missing something.

So when lockdown 3.0 came to an end, I launched my ‘team 2021’ project, which we later renamed ‘Project Initiative’. It started with an analysis of our current team and processes, what was working and what wasn’t. We identified successes and bottlenecks, and brainstormed ideas to improve our current team but also allow it to grow at the rate we need it to.

Involving the team in the changes

The second step was simply a team survey, with the aim to assess how (un)happy and (un)fulfilled everybody was feeling. We gave them the option to answer anonymously so we would capture all of the information, even the more sensitive ones. The results were eye-opening:

• 100% said they were ‘very happy’ or ‘happy’
• 80% said they felt valued and rewarded most or all of the time
• 90% said they felt supported personally and professionally.

Not a bad place to start!

We also asked them what company benefits would make a difference to them. From private healthcare, to a better sick leave policy, coaching, more holidays, shares in CookiesHQ and more regular team activities, we tried to cover it all. The results were unequivocal and the clear winners were:

• more time for training and development
• more holidays
• better employer pension contributions
• more regular team activities.

A few people also mentioned that a higher salary would sweeten the deal.

So that’s what we did.

Investing in the team

A couple of weeks ago, we brought the whole team together in our Bristol office (for the first time in 18 months!) and we presented our plan. We explained how the business was doing and where it was heading, we told them about our growing pains and what we needed to remedy them. And more importantly, we showed them that we listened.

📚 They asked for more time for training and development.
We’re giving all full-time employees half a day a week off client work. They can use that time to learn new skills, create missing processes, contribute back to the community, create content, do projects in groups.

🏖 They asked for more holidays.
We’re introducing 2 extra days of annual leave per year, after their first 2 years. This change is effective immediately and retroactively.

👵🏼 They asked for better employer pension contributions.
We’re increasing them from 3% to 5% with immediate effect.

🎳 They asked for more regular team days and activities.
We have scheduled a day per quarter to bring everyone together. Being all together in the same room does wonders to the mind and heightens the sense of belonging to a team.

💰 They also mentioned a higher salary.
We did a review of all the salaries, introduced a salary grid in line with the market and gave everyone a pay rise to bring them all to a level that is right with their role, their experience and their seniority level within CookiesHQ.

These changes are all a cost to the business. In total, it’s an extra £55,000 that we’re going to spend by the end of the year, solely on staff (7.5% of our turnover). It’s not a decision you take lightly after a Covid-year with no profit. But we have accumulated profits for 10 years, and now felt like the right time to invest some of it back in something worthy: our people.

What we’re expecting in return

Initiative!

The biggest bottleneck we have identified is Nic’s and my time. We are both stretched for time, which has become even more obvious as we were juggling work and homeschooling for several months in the past year. Almost all areas of the business are waiting for our input and time constantly, which is both exhausting and unsustainable.

So we’re giving everyone in the team the time, support and tools to take initiative, gain ownership, have more autonomy and just do it.

Only time will tell whether we did the right thing, but I already feel lighter knowing that I have given my team what they want and, above all, deserve.